{"id":691810,"date":"2026-05-25T02:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T02:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691810\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T02:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T02:51:08","slug":"3-canucks-who-increased-their-trade-value-in-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/691810\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Canucks who increased their trade value in 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you\u2019ve been living under a rock, it wasn\u2019t a great season for the Vancouver Canucks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The club finished dead last in the NHL standings, was forced to trade captain Quinn Hughes in December, and dove into a rebuild, selling off multiple veteran players ahead of the trade deadline. That work is expected to continue this offseason and for the foreseeable future, with the Canucks\u2019 new management group of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, with Ryan Johnson.<\/p>\n

One thing it\u2019d make sense for the new group to look at is whether they can sell off more pieces to add further to the Canucks\u2019 pool of assets. So with that in mind, we thought it\u2019d be a good time to take a quick look at which Canucks might have raised their trade value in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Drew O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, Drew O\u2019Connor is the Canucks forward who raised his trade value the most in 2025-26. After taking a beat to find his role to begin the season, O\u2019Connor quickly became one of the Canucks\u2019 most consistent forwards, utilizing his trademark size and speed to the fullest. 2025-26 was year one of a two-year contract extension that the Canucks signed O\u2019Connor to shortly after they acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins, along with Marcus Pettersson, in the trade that sent the first-round pick from the JT Miller trade to the Penguins.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor\u2019s 17 goals this past season ranked third on the Canucks, and his ability to play in all situations \u2014 including on the penalty kill \u2014 should make him an intriguing trade target for an NHL team looking to shore up their middle six forward group. Could a trade happen this offseason? Or will the Canucks keep O\u2019Connor for the bulk of the season and make him one of their trade chips and an intriguing rental option for the 2027 Trade Deadline?<\/p>\n

Filip Hronek<\/p>\n

Filip Hronek more than proved he\u2019s more than just Quinn Hughes\u2019s defence partner in 2025-26. On the ice, he was the Canucks\u2019 most consistent defenceman in all situations. Nobody ever questioned Hronek\u2019s effort, even when it became clear the Canucks\u2019 season wasn\u2019t going anywhere. Off the ice, he became a leader and a strong voice in the locker room that the Canucks\u2019 young players consistently raved about.<\/p>\n

Prior to his resignation, ex-Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford consistently raved about Hronek, even sharing that Hronek would be on a shortlist to be the Canucks\u2019 next captain<\/a>. That would, in essence, make Hronek an untouchable asset. When Rutherford made those comments, we were quick to point out that naming Hronek captain would be a mistake, and nothing has changed there.<\/p>\n

The simple fact of the matter is, the Canucks are still low on future assets. They need to develop Zeev Buium into an effective power play quarterback. Rebuilding teams don\u2019t make one of their few valuable trade assets more difficult to move, and rebuilding teams also don\u2019t limit the opportunities for their top prospects by giving those minutes to soon-to-be-29-year-olds.<\/p>\n

Even with those points in mind, though, there\u2019s no real rush for the Canucks to move off of Hronek. In fact, keeping him around for another year \u2014 maybe even two \u2014 to help guide the Canucks\u2019 young defencemen during pivotal developmental years is a perfectly defensible plan of attack. It just needs to come with an understanding from top to bottom that the Canucks will prioritize developing their young D, and that things like power play time will be distributed accordingly.<\/p>\n

Hronek is signed through the 2031-32 season to a $7.25 million cap hit that looks good now, and is only going to look better as the NHL\u2019s salary cap continues to rise. His contract undoubtedly makes him an even more desirable asset for any acquiring team. Hronek\u2019s contract also carries a no-movement clause, meaning he gets to control where he goes \u2014 or if he goes at all \u2014 if the Canucks want to get serious about cashing in on their most valuable trade chip at any point over the next few years.<\/p>\n

Linus Karlsson<\/p>\n

Could\u00a0Johnson and the Sedins trade Linus Karlsson? Theoretically, yes, they could. But Karlsson is a solid success story for the Canucks\u2019 development system \u2014 that had Ryan Johnson as its face for the last number of years \u2013, and the price teams would be willing to pay in a trade for a bona fide bottom-six winger likely makes the trade discussion a moot point.<\/p>\n

After a standout season where he helped deliver the Abbotsford Canucks a Calder Cup championship in 2024-25, Karlsson tallied 15 goals and 20 assists through 79 NHL regular season games this past season. In January, the Canucks rewarded him with a two-year contract extension at $2.25 million annually.<\/p>\n

Who do you think we missed from our list? Let us know in the comments section below!<\/p>\n

Sponsored by bet365<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In case you\u2019ve been living under a rock, it wasn\u2019t a great season for the Vancouver Canucks. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-691810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}